Tag Archives: Public Policy

I’ve debated saying this, but I feel like I have to. Racism is a term thrown around far too often in the political arena. It is not racist to disagree with someone who has a different color skin. But telling someone to go back where you came from means that they don’t deserve a seat at the table, are less of an American, and has less intrinsic worth. This is inherently racist, to a level I would severely discipline or even fire an employee who made such statements.

The Republican party for years denounced the Democrats lack of holding Sen. Robert Bird accountable for his involvement in the Ku Klux Klan. Why can’t they now do the same thing with the President?

The American republic is never more than one generation from extinction. We are not perfect, but we should require ourselves to strive a little bit more toward perfection every day. That is the only way the, “Empire in many respects the most interesting in the world” will survive.

It is okay to disagree on policies. But disagreement doesn’t mean the other side hates America. They simply have a different view of where the country should be heading. Debate objectives. Debate policies. But if you want this country to survive, rise above personal attacks. They serve no purpose other than to weaken your arguments from enlightened debate to antagonistic mudslinging.

The big news today is going to be the status of the national budget. The clock is ticking a bit quicker than normal towards a government shutdown. The last time the government was shut down was nearly twenty years ago. Will it actually happen again this weekend? Honestly, I don’t know. The president has threatened to veto another continuing resolution, so it seems like it might actually take place. What I do know is these clip from The West Wing have been on repeat in my head all day (sorry I couldn’t find a better version of the first one).

In other news, HackCollege has a post about a new iPhone app which allows you to keep track of your grades, set targets, and program due dates. Since I am solidly in the BlackBerry camp of the great smartphone debate, I haven’t actually tried it myself, but their review can be found here.

Yahoo News has a guide to free software to “Upgrade Your Life.” While for obvious reasons, it doesn’t mention any of the Google solutions, it is a nice addendum to my post from last Monday.